The Best New Restaurants in Amsterdam
With sparkling canals, peerless museums, and a uniquely permissive culture, Amsterdam has always been an easy sell. The food, however, has been a different story. For years, the city's restaurants offered little beyond fusty fine dining, lackluster steak-and-pasta joints, and vending-machine croquettes with indeterminable fillings. Recently, though, an adventurous sense of fun has joined the table, informed partly by the casual-setting/serious-cooking ethos that's transformed many American restaurants. A new food culture is emerging, rooted in Dutch ingredients and shaped by the creative imaginations of chefs trained in (and bored with) Continental standbys. The result is a genuinely exciting eating destination, a city that's launching a new culinary tradition of its own. It's about time*.* **
What was once a Catholic charity that baked bread for the poor is now home to The Dylan Amsterdam, a luxe 40-room hotel. The space is stunning: soaring ceilings, wood beams, and 19th-century ovens built into the brick walls of Vinkeles, the Michelin-starred restaurant.
In Amsterdam, the bicycle is king--and even the king rides a bicycle. The city is so flat and compact, the infrastructure so irreproachable, it seems to have been built for bikes. You won't see much spandex (or many helmets), but rather businessmen heading to work in suits and stylish parents powering wheelbarrow bikes overflowing with dogs and children. I rented an omafiet ("grandma's bike") during my stay and rode it everywhere. It's euphoric. Plus, if your idea of sightseeing is going from one meal to the next, burning a few calories between, say, brunch and lunch seems prudent. Head to Bike City (68-70 Bloemgracht, +31-20-626-3721) for classic black cruisers ($20 per day) and accessories, like kid-friendly trailers.
Paul BARBERA1/9Morning Glory
The year-old Little Collins is Amsterdam's first bona fide brunch mecca. In a tile-and-concrete dining room, chef Georgina Patterson serves up global flavors inspired by her native Melbourne, like crispy-chewy crepes with 15-spice kasundi mustard sauce. The coffee, per Aussie standards, is superb, but for maximum impact, order a hangover-annihilating Mexicana Bloody Mary, a bracing twist on the standard, featuring tequila, coriander, lime, and chile.
Paul BARBERA2/9Country Time
When Sander Overeinder took over a former chapel in leafy Beatrixpark, the terms were clear: The building was slated for redevelopment, so the restaurant would be temporary. Six improbable years later, Restaurant As endures, though its kitchen still lacks permanent walls. No matter: In summer, As basically moves outside, with chickens and pigs roaming in the back. Overeinder features ultralocal salads with dandelions, yarrow, and wild watercress (pictured) foraged from the surrounding park, as well as rustic plates like wood oven-roasted monkfish or beets and baked buffalo ricotta. Come autumn, the pigs star in a weekend-long nose-to-tail feast.
Paul BARBERA4/9Northern Exposure
With its white tablecloths and spot-on midcentury decor, Cafe Modern is not a café, nor does it seem particularly modern. Still, the restaurant's location, in gentrifying Amsterdam-Noord, situates it firmly in 2013. So do its laid-back service and its five-course tasting menu, which takes diners on a "small adventure," according to co-owner Bart Oosterveer. Dishes range widely, from hoisin-teriyaki duck pancakes to old-timey Dutch standards like braised veal tongue and bloedworst. Diners devour them, says Oosterveer, "but guests wouldn't order them on their own in a million years."
Paul BARBERA5/9Amstel Lights
Seven years ago, when Yvette van Boven and her partner opened Aan de Amstel, a cozy riverside restaurant and catering shop in the Amstel neighborhood, times were different. "People didn't want proper lunches," says the chef, who also writes the popular Home Made cookbook series. "They wanted sandwiches." Today, the restaurant continues to shun culinary conservatism, chucking oysters into steak tartare, pairing shellfish with chorizo and spelt, and adding a dash of locally distilled mandarin liqueur to its lovely, complex Manhattan.
6/9Shellfish with chorizo and spelt at Aan de Amstel
Paul BARBERA7/9Wild East
For proof that Wilde Zwijnen is a pioneer in far-flung Indische Buurt, flip through a real-estate brochure. Local developers tout the farmhouse-meets-warehouse restaurant as a hip selling point in Amsterdam's fast-changing east end. Chef and co-owner Frenk van Dinther lived in the neighborhood for a decade before deeming it ready for his innovative cooking, which centers on Italo-Dutch hybrids, such as sauerkraut-stuffed ravioli and baked sea bass with octopus (pictured), along with plenty of verboten groenten ("forgotten vegetables"), like heirloom carrots and purple kale. Meaty mains often feature game, like deer and wild boar (a.k.a. wilde zwijnen), from the nearby countryside.
Paul BARBERA8/9Brotherly Love
Don't be fooled by the soft lighting and impeccable service; Gebr. Hartering only seems stuffy. Once you notice the tattoos beneath your server's crisp, white shirt or the family-style dishes, you'll know: This is fine dining with an edge. Paul Hartering, who runs the show with his brother, Niek, offers a suitably unorthodox fixed-price menu, balancing burrata and steak with veal-heart tartare and pig's-head croquettes.
Paul BARBERA9/9Better With Age
At the intimate charcuterie bar Worst, chef Kees Elfring showcases Europe's finest small-scale meat curers, including legendary Girardeau from the Loire Valley and de Pasteibakkerij, a local producer of pâtés and blood sausage. Elfring, who trained at Chez Panisse, supplements the menu with fresh sausages (perhaps lobster, perhaps wild boar) and a wine list that spans the Old World, from big, bold Barolos to grand cru Pinot Noirs. Grab a stool at the bar-cum-prep counter, which feels like the kitchen island of the world's coolest country house.
